Chairperson, hon Minister and hon members, I want to speak in support of this Bill which is an important event in the transformation of education. In other words, the Minister has walked his talk.
By creating a professional home for teachers, the Bill will serve to enhance the status of professionalism and lead to a new climate of accountability and delivery.
This council must play its role in upgrading the overall quality of the profession. It must serve to ensure that those teachers who were poorly trained by successive apartheid governments, now get the chance to become fully qualified professionals. It must also assist in ensuring that even our best qualified teachers are properly orientated towards a culture of human rights within the school and classroom, promoting the values and ethics which make up a democracy. The SA Council for Educators must be prominent in the celebrations of World Teachers Day on 5 October so that the nation can show its appreciation for the work which they do in the country.
But, the Sace will also have to act decisively where there is evidence that a teacher has contravened a code of professional ethics. The Sace must be the quality guarantee in education. Parents and learners must be assured that what they expect is what they get. In severe cases, the council will have the power to remove the name of an educator from the roll in this country. This is a harsh sanction and it must be used judiciously. But where it finds that a teacher has sexually abused a child or perhaps sold an examination paper, the council cannot afford to be soft. It must invoke the powers it is given through this Bill. I am sure it will, since the profession as a whole is discredited by the actions of a few elements such as these.
The public will also have a role to play, not just in reporting possible cases of misconduct to the council but also in the council itself. The teaching profession will be the majority in the council. However, other stakeholders will also be there to ensure that the council acts fairly in its deliberations. In this way, the interest of the profession will be balanced against the interest of the public. We cannot allow either of these to become dominant. The fact that the scope of the new council will be extended to include all sectors in general and further education bands in particular is exciting and leads us towards a position where all education and training is part of a seamless, integrated system.
Adult educators, for too long, have been a forgotten sector among teachers. Now they can get their recognition and, so too, our early childhood educators. They are regarded by many as baby-sitters, and yet they care for the children who are at their most impressionable age - an age when their attitudes and personalities are being formed. We must therefore expect a high degree of professionalism from such educators if we are to have decent citizens emerging from our schools.
The inclusion of private or independent schools is also significant. We are all aware of the poor treatment of learners by a number of fly-by-night cash colleges. Institutions which employ unqualified teachers provide very little education and extract enormous fees from desperate parents. This cannot be allowed. The Bill will at least ensure that any educator employed in a private school is qualified, registered and acts in a professional manner. The traditional private school sector, including the religious schools, has welcomed their inclusion in the scope of the council. In fact, many of their teachers have already registered with Sace of their own accord. We applaud them for this move.
The council has a huge responsibility to ensure that the ongoing transformation of education is not undermined by poor performance of a few educators. There are still enormous challenges in respect of both equity and quality, and we need a cohort of committed professionals to get us there. Most of all, we need teachers whom we can trust. When our children leave for school in the morning, we must know that they are safe, in good hands and are involved in learning. That is what the SA Council for Educators aims to deliver. I therefore call on members to support the Bill. [Applause.]